comment

The names of the 17 people -- 14 students and three adults -- who were killed and 15 injured in Wednesday's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, were released Thursday.

It was the deadliest school shooting rampage since a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December, 2012.

Among the students killed by a 19-year-old suspect and former student at the school in Florida were Nicholas Dworet, a senior swimming captain, who had just accepted a college scholarship, a native of Venezuela who had just become a U.S. citizen, a
14-year-old girl who moved to Florida from Bergen County
and four other ninth-graders.

That Sandy Hook assault by a 20-year-old former student killed 26 - 20 first-graders and six staff members.

"May they rest in peace," said Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel after reading the names of the 17. "May God comfort their families."

Sandy Hook Promise
, which trains students and adults to know the signs of gun violence, released the following statement in response to the shooting in Florida:

"Today, not even two months into 2018, we saw the 18th school shooting in America this year. Parkland, Florida joined a rapidly growing number of American communities that have been affected by the deadly consequences of gun violence.

"A 19-year-old former student pulled the fire alarm and opened fire at terrified students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as they were dismissing for the day, killing at least 17 and injuring many others. Our hearts are with the Parkland, FL community as we understand all too well what the community is going through today, and in the days to come.

"This is the fifth school shooting just this month and there were 13 recorded in January 2018. The frequency of school shootings are increasing at an alarming rate, and they happen at this rate nowhere else in the world. Students are only midway through the school year, continuously witnessing attack after attack, by many perpetrators who showed signs of a crisis before they turned violent.

"All students across this country deserve to feel safe at school. We can no longer ignore this issue. It is not the time to feel helpless or hopeless, it is time to speak out, take action, and protect our kids from senseless, preventable gun violence."